Vtuber Mori Calliope’s Persona 3 campaign makes everyone beg Atlus

The livestream started with an audible sigh. The gothic girl with pink hair was not thrilled, and within moments it became clear why.

“Atlus, let me play Person 3», Launched Mori Calliope, an English-speaking VTuber of the Hololive agency of animated digital animators currently taking by storm the Internet. Visible on her screen was a cartoonish depiction of herself with two exclamation marks – a graphic that’s instantly recognizable to anyone who’s played a Japanese role-playing game. Person 3.

Released in 2006 by Atlus, the game is known for its vibrant portrayal of Japanese high school, which is cleverly associated with exploring demon-infested dungeons. In this game, when the characters launch a devastating attack, a close-up ensues; the character will then say a signature line. In this case, Mori’s line was “I was expecting this” – a clever play on the fact that at present, despite his urgent requests, Mori apparently cannot live stream. Person 3 to his legion of fans.

“Atlus, please, I’m begging you, please, let me please, let me play, Person 3, and stream it live, please, ”she continued. “I beg you to let me play your game, please.”

It was the entire livestream – Mori pleaded repeatedly for over 90 minutes as thousands of fans cheered. 250,000 people at the time of this writing have logged in to hear someone say the same thing over and over again. At one point, Mori’s plan was even trending on Twitter.

So why can’t she play this old game? In the past, Atlus has been restrictive on what players can and cannot show during live broadcasts – but for the last game in the series, Person 5. Would the Japanese developer even care if a VTuber played a game that is now 14 years old? A representative for Atlus told Polygon that the trending hashtag was the first they had heard of Mori’s request and that to their knowledge Atlus had not rejected a live stream. The representative said they were “reviewing” the situation. But it’s also possible that much of what’s going on here involves both the Japanese side of Hololive, Mori’s parent company, and Atlus, the game’s developer. Hololive hasn’t returned a request. commentary in time for the press.

While Mori never fully explains why she can’t play the game, the main assumption among fans is that it’s all tangled up in Japanese copyright law, which is infamous – and hasn’t fair use clause, as US law does. And so, the theory is that in order to play a game, sometimes VTubers have to take the extra step of asking permission first. Which means, in theory, that companies can say no. While it’s unclear exactly what the deals are behind the scenes here, fans are more than ready to support Mori’s cause. To witness it, there is a hashtag on Twitter, # CallioP3, where viewers submit fan art, screenshots, and other ephemeral material in the hopes of increasing visibility and, ideally, getting Atlus to say yes.

During the livestream, Mori even promised that she wouldn’t “mess up” the game and said she was ready to stop the broadcast at a predetermined time. After that, she said, she would encourage people to buy the game instead. This was apparently in response to Atlus’ rules regarding Person 5, where the developer seemed unusually suspicious of live broadcasters showing too much play to their viewers.

Part of what makes all of this stand out is the fact that Mori was able to have the same thing repeated over and over again in an entertaining way for people watching. Sure, she was repeating herself, but she also made clever use of the camera and the absurd graphics that flashed in the background, which only got wilder the more she looked desperate. It’s no wonder the VTubers are making waves right now – and if they do with restrictions like this in place, I can only imagine the heights they will reach in 2021.

If nothing else, this particular VTuber deserves it: Person 3“Memento Mori” has the slogan. Her Last name is Mori Calliope. The two were made for each other.